Contrivance for turning the leaves of a pamphlet or book.



No. 871,148. PATENTOO Novfl flaov. B. SHARP. GONTRIVANGE FOR TURNING THELEAVES OF A PAMPHLET OR BOOK.

APPLICATION FILED APB.14, 1905.

I No. 871,148. PATBNTED NOV. 19, 1907.

B. SHARP.

CONTRIVANGE FOR TURNING THE LEAVES OF A PAMPHLET 0R BOOK.

7 APPLICATION FILED 11.14 1907.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

PATENTED NOV. 19, 1907.

B. SHARP. OONTRIVANCE FOR TURNING THE LEAVES OF A PAMPHLET OR BOOK.

APPLICATION FILED APR.H.1905

3 SHEETS-SHEBT 3.

WW M Q a l 7 O \Q M 0 a: a M, a

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENSON SHARP, OF COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND.

CONTRIVANCE FOR TURNING THE LEAVES OF A PAMPHLET OR BOOK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 19, 1907.

Application filed April 14,1905. Serial No. 255613.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENSON SHARP, a subject of the Emperor of Austria,residing at No. 3 Victoria Park road, in the county of Middlesex,England, have invented. new and useful Improved Contrivance for Turningthe Leaves of a Pamphlet or Book, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to an arrangement of mechanism whereby asuccession of sheets can be turned so as to expose the under side of theupper sheet and the face of the sheet next thereto, as in. the operationof turning over the leaves of 'a book.

The chief purpose which the invention is intended to serve is theturning of the leaves of a piece of music, without requiring theperformer to finger the sheets, and the invention will be described withreference to a form of construction suitable for such purpose. Such aconstruction is illustrated in the accompanying drawings Inthcsez-Figurc 1 is a front view of the apparatus arranged as inoperation, three sheets having been turned, and live more being adaptedto be turned. Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing the apparatus standingon a flat surface. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan of the stand. taken alongthe line 33 of Fig. 1 as when in use with a piano of ordinary construction. Fig. 4 is a sectional plan, on a larger scale, of theprincipal portion of the apparatus, taken along the line 44 of Fig. 1.Fig. 5 is a front elevation corresponding to the view in Fig. 4. Fig. 6is a plan corresponding to Fig. 4 showing the arrangement of theactuating mechanism. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a part suflicient toshow the actuating mechanism. 7 tional plan showing a detail. Figs. 9 &10 are respectively a side elevation and a plan of a pedal for actuatingthe mechanism by the pressure of the foot. Figs. 11 and 12 arerespectively on a larger scale side elevation and transverse sectiontaken along the line 12-12 of Fig. 1] of the terminal portion of thepull and thrust mechanism.

The mechanism which effects the turning operation, is secured in apivoted manner to the upper end of a stand which consists of a lightframe of thin strips adapted to fold into a compact form, in which allthe components can take positions which are parallel and in contact withone another.

The stand is formed in two portions A and A (Fig. 2) which are hingedtogether at b,

Fig. 8 is a part secand each portion is adapted to be opened into atriangular shape as shown in Fig. 1. The two portions may be spread atan angle with one another, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to be adapted tosupport a piece of music and the leaf-turning machine on a table orother horizontal surface. Alternatively, the two portions A and A can bebrought into contact with one another, as shown in Fig. 3, in whichcondition the apparatus is adapted for use on a piano of ordinaryconstruction by resting it on the music stand universally provided. onsuch an instrument.

As a further alternative, the stand may be hung on an orchestra stand, arail of a high backed. chair or any suitable erection, the rail beinginterposed between the two sides I) and b of a clip near the hinge I).To the central member a", of the front portion A of the stand, a bentrod is pivoted at a, the pivot mounting being adapted to yieldelastically by the compression of a helical spring a" and thus the rodis adapted to be elastically engaged with either of two or more hookedrecesses formed in a catch a provided at the lower end of a hen the rodis detached from a it assumes a form and position (1 as shown in dottedlines in Fig. 2. If, with this construction, a piece of music isinserted with its central fold within the bent rod, and the latter issprung into engagement of its lower end with the catch a the music willbe securely held and the leaf turning apparatus will be adapted toefliciently carry out its operations in a manner which will be presentlydescribed.

It has been necessary to describe the construction of the stand in somedetail because it is required to serve the purpose of bringing the musicand the leaf-turning apparatus into working connection with one another.

T 0 fold the stand completely for stowage or transport the bottommembers a," of turn upwards by pivoting, at one end, about the lowerends of the side members a of which, in the front portion A are eachpivoted to the upper end of the central member a and, in the portion Athe side members a a are pivoted together. The other ends of a a? are,in the front portion A pivoted to a piece 0! which is adapted to slidealong the central member (1 and, in the back portion A they are pivotedto one another.

Pivot-ally secured to the upper end of the stand is the frame 0 of theleaf-turning mech anism and to this frame is secured a short spindle d.On the spindle d are mounted a number of arms e e 6 adapted to turnfreely thereon. At its pivoted end, each arm is formed with two lugswhich are bent into planes parallel to one another, the spindle (Zpassing through both lugs. A section of the arm at this end, takenthrough the axis of the spindle d and along the line U indicated in Fig.4, has a U shape, the dimensions being such that, of each arm which isintermediate between the first and the last, the U section closelyembraces, and is embraced by, that of those next in sequence, each wayrespectively, (see Figs. 4 & 5). In this way, on a spindle of shortlength, a considerable nun1- ber of arms can be pivoted in a manner soas to be free to turn, and at the same time the center lines of all thearms are rigidly restrained from deviation from one central plane ofrotation.

At the further ends of the arms 6 6 links f are pivotally secured andeach link carries a clip J. The links f are each shorter or longer thanthat next in sequence, for the purpose of more completely separating theclips from one another.

Each arm 0 l e is formed with an upstanding finger 7b the length ofwhich is shorter than that of the one preceding by a constant amount,(Figs. 1, 2 & 5). The extremities of these upstanding fingers areadapted to be engaged successively by the end of one of two fingers g gwhich project from an operative member G, which latter carries a nut gwhich is adapted to traverse a screw "L secured to the frame 0 and causethe operative member G to descend between the sides of a rectangularpiece 7' which incloses it.

The rectangular piece the sides of which are corrugated to combinelightness with rigidity, is so mounted as to be able to turn freely on aspindle 11 formed in one with the screw i at its upper end, the screwhaving at its lower end a collar on which also the piece turns. To thepiece j, at its lower end, is secured a two-toothed crown ratchet-wheelj shown in detail in Fig. 8, which, by means of a spring pawl 3'prevents the reversal of the movement of the piece 3'. Also to the upperend of the piece another two toothed crown ratchetewheel 9' is secured,and it is to the two teeth alternately of this wheel j that the urgingforce is applied for the purpose of turning a leaf of the music in thefollowing manner :On the spindle i which forms a continuation of thescrew i, a pinion is is freely mounted, and to the underneath face ofthe pinion a spring pawl k is secured, the end of which is adapted toengage alternately with each of the two teeth of the ratchetwheel j Bymeans of this connection, when the pinion revolves in one direction, itwill carry with it the ratchet-wheel j and the rectangular piece 7' towhich it is secured. When, after half a revolution has been com a sliderelatively to one another.

pleted, the pinion is caused to reverse its motion, the pawl M will rideover the second tooth of and take such a position as to be adapted tourge the ratchet-wheel and piece j again in the forward directionthrough half a revolution, when the pinion 7c is once more rotated inthe original direction, and so on successively.

The alternate forward and reversed rotations of the pinion k areeffected by means of a toothed sector k which is pulled by a wire 75 toeffect the purpose of turning the music and, on the release of the pull,the sector is returned to its initial position by the tension of aspring 75*. i

The pull on the wire 76 is effected from a distance through a medium,requiring no fixing except at its ends, by the employment of the wellknown Bowden transmission principle in which a tension element,preferably made of stranded wires, is threaded through a flexible tubecapable of trai'ismitting a thrust. The flexible tube may be a closelycoiled helix, a string of beads, a composition pipe or otherwise.

In Fig. 2 the transmission member is shown by k and Figs. 9 & L0 showthe construction of a pedal M whereby the required effort can beexerted. Theconstruction of this latter member must be such as to beadapted to exert both a pull and a thrust. The transmission memberterminates in a portion 7c which is attached to the tension element 763by means of a transverse pin k and a portion 7c which is secured to thecompression element or flexible tube 7c (Figs. 11 and 12). These twoelements are adapted to 7c is inserted within a fork m of the pedal inwhich it is retained by its flange, which flange and that of the portionk are interposed between the fork m and a push piece m pivotally securedto the short arm m of the pedal lever, the

long arm m being adapted to be pressed on by the foot.

By adopting a suitable amplitude of movement of the pedal andparticularly by employing only .two teeth on each of the ratchetwheels,the operating member G will always be brought into the correct position,at the end of one movement, for effecting the turning of the next sheetwhen the actuating force is re-applied.

The method of operation is as follows The piece of music having beensecured to the stand, as before described and as shown in Fig. 1, allthe arms 6 e are turned into the right-hand position, and the clip fcarried on the link f at the right end of the outside arm 6 which armhas the longest upstanding finger h, is attached to the edge of thefirst leaf to be turned, and the other I clips are similarly attached tothe other leaves, each in due order. If now the pedal lever m is thrustdownwards and a pull exerted on the wire k the operative member G Will,by means of the rectangular piece j, be carried around half a revolutionand, by means of the nut y, will. descend a distance equal to half theitch of the screw i. The axis of the screw e is situated somewhateccentrically to that of the spindle (Z on which the arms 6 e aremounted, and the length of the fingers g g of the operating member G isadapted to cause them to engage with the top end of the upstandingfingers h when the arms 0 e occupy the right-hand position. Thus by therotation of G the outside arm, which has the longest finger It, will beconveyed from the right-hand position into the position shown in Fig. 4by the arm e. In this position, on account of the eccentricity of theaxes d and i, the two fingers will disengage themselves from oneanother. From this position the arms will complete their half revolutionby the action of gravity, on account of the inclination of the sheets ofmusic. After having accomplished the turning of one leaf, the oppositefinger g of the operating member, having descended a distance equal tohalf the pitch of the screw, will be ready to engage with the next armwhen the mechanism is again actuated. By making the dilferenco inlengths of the fingers h of consecutive arms equal to half the pitch ofthe screw 1' the fingers g 9 will successively engage with theextremities of the fingers 72..

The nut g is divided into two similar halves which are pivoted at g tothe opera tive member G forced into contact with the thread of the screwi by means of a spring g inserted between the handles 9 g. By pressing gg together, with the finger and thumb, the nut can be disengaged fromthe thread of the screw, and the member G can be raised into a suitableposition on the screw to repeat the whole or any desired number ofpages. of music.

To facilitate the displacement of the nut, at the end of any halfrevolution, an alternative means of separating the two halves of the nutis provided in a second pair of handles g g which, also are pivoted tothe member G.-

I claim:

1. A mechanism for turning the leaves of a book or pamphlet comprisingarms pivotally mounted on a frame, such arms having 2. A mechanism forturning the leaves of a book or pamphlet comprising arms pivotallymounted on a franiie, such arms having fingers which project each asmall distance further than that of the arm which follows in sequence, atwo fingered operating member adapted to engage successively with theprojecting tips of the fingers on the arms, a screw in which saidoperating member is mounted, said screw being located above and parallelwith the pivot of the arms, and means for rotating said operating memberthrough an angle automatically limited to 180 degrees 011 eachactuation.

3. In a mechanism for turning the leaves of a book or pamphlet, anoperating member, arms engaged by said member, said arms being attachedseverally to the leaves, a screw, a divided nut attached to the saidoperating member and embracing said screw, and means for disengagingsaid nut from. said screw.

4. In a mechanism for turning the leaves of a book or pamphlet, a seriesof arms pivotally mounted on a common vertical axis in a compact manner,and all lying in the same horizontal plane and links carrying clips forthe attachment of the extremities of the arms to the several leaves, thepivoted ends of such arms having each a U shaped section, the surface ofeach section which is intermediate to the extreme members of the series,being embraced by and embracing, the ones next in sequence, the lengthsof the clip-carrying links being each greater or less than the one nextin sequence.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

BENSON SHARP.

Witnesses THOMAS ALFRED HEARsoN, IVALTER J. SKERTEN.

